Disclaimer: Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- and it's characters (c) Square Enix. Me no own. Just playing with the characters here. ;) Half of this story was done by Shade the Hero. Thanks!

Bahamut: Hello and welcome! Bahamut Fury here! I'd like to start off by saying that while this account may be new, I've been on for a good few years. I just wanted to start fresh, if you will, and have an account for non-super explicit related things. And here we are! And the first story to get posted to this account? Operation: Sleepover! A collab effort with Shade the Hero! Actually this story started off as just a roleplay between us, but it turned into something epic, and we both agreed that it should be turned into a story and posted to share with others! It's been a blast writing this out with her and we bet you'll enjoy reading it! ;) So we both hope you enjoy, and a super big thank you to Shade the Hero for her awesome half, and letting me post it here! :D Thank you!

Shade: Hey guys! Shade The Hero here, with another great story for you all, but this time it's gonna be twice the fun. Working on this with Bahamut Fury here has been a total blast. As she so perfectly stated, this started out as just some downtime fun, which is helping me work through my writer's block, but it quickly evolved into something too awesome to keep to ourselves. So we both agreed that it needed to be shared. This project can be described as both a Beauty and a Beast. There's a ton of adventure in store so we hope you enjoy this as much as we have! :)

Here Goes Nothing

It was Friday night. The end of another exhausting week was upon the citizens of Midgar. While for most people it meant winding down and taking a few days to relax, but for a young cadet named Cloud Strife he felt like his troubles were only beginning. It had been a strange start to the week to be sure. Ever since he bumped into that SOLDIER Second in the halls the guy had been hanging around the edge of Cloud's vision ever since. Then on Wednesday the older teen finally approached him after lunch. Cloud was nervous at first. The guy was a SOLDIER after all, with actual Mako coursing through his veins. The blonde secretly prayed that the teen wasn't another one of those bullies that had started taunting him lately. He had endured enough of that back home. Thankfully the guy seemed to be the complete opposite. And he finally had a name. Zack Fair. Cloud thought 'Fair' was a strange name, but then again he had no room to talk with a name like Cloud.

They talked for a while, getting to know each other and finally after Zack had given him his own personal nickname he was allowed to return to class, which he was already ten minutes late for. Thursday Zack used his rank to pull Cloud out of class for what he told the instructor was a conference meeting. It was only a fifteen minute break to ask Cloud if he wanted to hang out over the weekend. Cloud had wanted to study and get ready for the next exam, but Zack was his first official friend in Shinra, and he just couldn't bring himself to say no.

Which brought Cloud back to the present. Heading up the stairs of the Shinra building to the SOLDIER living quarters and heading to Zack's apartment. He stopped at the door numbered 417 and double checked the paper before taking a deep breath to ready himself for the unexpected.

"Well, here goes nothing."

With that he knocked on the door.

With the sound of a light knock on the door, one 2nd Class Zack Fair knew the weekend had officially started. He'd planned everything (As much as his puppy attention span allowed him to plan anyway, as Angeal would have put it) and now it was time to put his plans into action.

Wearing a casual outfit for the weekend since there was no more training, he jumped up and swung the door open to greet the cadet that had caught his attention. That hair alone screamed for Zack's attention, he couldn't have missed the blonde even if he were blind. Flashing him a bright smile, Zack yanked the cadet into his apartment. "I was starting to think you were gonna chicken out on me!" He eyed the teen, of course he was still wearing his cadet uniform. "You're not wearing that all weekend are you?"

No matter, he took Cloud's bag and tossed it to a corner in the apartment somewhere and disappeared into his room for a moment. It took him several minutes to find a clean shirt, but once he had he jogged out, all smiles and handed Cloud said shirt. "This will have to do for now." He smiled, a disarming smile he used for cadets that might be nervous about their difference in ranks, and waited for Cloud to change right there; not a bashful bone in Fair's body.

"So," He began, eyes holding a soft glow of Mako. "You ready for the best weekend since joining SOLDIER?" He grinned, and this time there was a hint of mischievousness behind that grin.

The world seemed to freeze for the blonde as a hand grasped a fistful of his uniform and yanked him inside. Cloud just barely managed to bite down before letting out an embarrassing squeak in surprise. Thankfully it seemed Zack was too excited to hear it anyway.

Cloud had always been quiet and shy, but the minute Zack commented about his attire he couldn't hide the blush. He had been so focused on packing enough things into his bag that he forgot to change out of his uniform. Cloud just stood there and blinked as Zack vanished into his room and returned with a shirt.

Cloud looked down at it and then back up at Zack before that blush returned again. He didn't expect him to undress right HERE, did he?

Well, it wasn't like he hadn't undressed in a locker room with the other cadets, even if it was a more reasonable setting. Still, he didn't want to offend his friend and a SOLDIER no less, so he bit back his nervousness, took a few steps back and pulled off the top of his cadet uniform. They were itchy and very uncomfortable and once one worked up a decent sweat it transformed into nearly unbearable. The shirt dropped to his feet as he slipped on the shirt Zack offered and the difference was like night and day. Whatever material it was made of was at least five times softer and didn't stick to his skin or itch in the least. Already things were looking up, not that one shirt was a big deal, but it meant things were starting off on a good note.

Zack's next question didn't set off any alarm bells and already he felt himself relaxing a little. "Sure." He replied, not knowing what to expect. But, he felt he was ready for whatever the SOLDIER could dish out, at least he thought he did. "What do you want to do first?"

The bright eyed SOLDIER 2nd Class looked to his clock on the wall -which was actually an hour off but he still knew what time it was- and then to his watch where he had set a timer. "We've got exactly 47 minutes left before the meeting is done, so first let's head to Genesis's apartment with these."

With that said, Zack turned where he had stacked three boxes just beside the door of his apartment and picked the first one up, plopping it right into Cloud's arms.

He grabbed the next two boxes himself and went out the door as if it were nothing to be carrying two boxes full of books. Of course, Cloud may have a bit more trouble considering he still didn't have any Mako in his system, but Zack just figured it would help for building muscle. "Come on! It's going to take us at least 30 minutes to do this alone, and we still gotta take care of a couple other things afterward." He blinked then turned right back around and grabbed a couple things, stuffing them into his pockets and then jogging out of his apartment; not even concerned with locking his door.

They had a limited window to do everything the teen had planned, but with Cloud's help Zack knew they could pull it off together flawlessly. Yes, this weekend was going to be a blast, and if nothing else, good training exercises for the cadet.

"So how much do you know about the 1sts here? Genesis for example, and Sephiroth." He glanced over his shoulder at the younger teen, wondering what rumors the spiky haired boy fell for and what he actually knew of the men that made up most of SOLDIERs 1sts.

Cloud almost dropped the box due to the unexpected weight the moment Zack gave it to him. Thankfully, his reflexes were quick enough to catch himself without him stumbling, even though in the two seconds it took to correct himself he looked like an awkward chocobo.

He secretly wondered if all SOLDIERs were this hyper as he hurried to keep up with Zack as they made their way out of his apartment. It was then that what the raven-haired teen said finally sank in. Why are we going to a First's apartment? And why does this box weigh so much? Whatever was inside it rattled and shifted as he put in an extra burst of speed trying to keep up. Man, Zack was fast. And he was carrying two boxes? Cloud realized he had a long way to go before he was ready for SOLDIER.

Cloud blinked in confusion for a moment before giving Zack's question some thought. He knew about Sephiroth. Who on Gaia didn't? The man was a legend and Cloud's hero, not that he went about openly admitting it. Aside from the chatter that spread through the cadets he didn't know much about the other two. He hoped at least some of what he heard wasn't true.

"W-well, I know The General is a legend from his actions in the Wutai war. It's said that nothing can surprise him. Some of the other cadets think he has special powers that can sense every person within a mile radius." He thought about another rumor he heard, but hesitated to say it at first, though it was pretty amusing and he was curious to know if it was true. "I also heard that he uses two bottles of shampoo to wash his hair, but I doubt that's true. Or is it?"

Shiva that sounded horrible. Even Cloud realized it sounded like he was fan-girling. All he was missing was a purple dress, flashy earrings and a pearl necklace with high-heeled shoes and he'd make the perfect fangirl. The image of the dress alone made him shudder.

He had heard even less about Genesis. "I heard that Commander Genesis reads a lot and he has a strange obsession with hot chocolate." Wow that was limited. He knew even less about the third First Class. "And Commander Angeal, well...I don't really know anything about him."

It was only after he had said that, that he wondered if that had been a test. Was Zack wondering if he would disrespect the Firsts? Was this whole thing some exam and the Firsts themselves were listening in? No, that was crazy and Cloud had to believe he was being paranoid, but in a place like Shinra even the walls had ears. Did the cameras stationed in the halls have listening devices too? Oh Shiva he was dead. He was so dead.

Zack couldn't hide the stupid grin on his face. Cloud sounded so much like a fangirl it was hilarious, especially since he was a guy and not actually a girl. "Well today you're going to learn a couple valuable things about Genesis and Sephiroth in particular. Oh, and Seph only uses one bottle of shampoo every time he washes his hair, but he also uses a bottle of conditioner with it. Man, you should smell his hair, it changes daily! Even I can't get my hair to change smells so often, and I've tried!" The teen's face was actually pretty serious looking when he said that.

At the elevators, the 2nd Class hit the button and stepped onto one of the elevators before he pressed the button for the 1sts apartment floor. "Genesis only reads like one book, it's called Loveless. I think it's based off some play, or they based the play off the book one. I don't know, I never can understand half the things he's talking about but I'm pretty sure he repeats himself. Sephiroth says he's just trying to beat the whole book into everyone's heads, like brainwash them into loving it as much as he does."

Zack groaned outwardly, he'd heard so much of Loveless he was actually starting to memorize some of it himself, which spoke volumes.

Before Zack could forget he blinked and smiled. "Angeal's my mentor by the way. He's pretty cool, laid back, he has a bunch of plants in his apartment. Genesis doesn't like them though because they draw bugs in and he's like some high school girl when it comes to bugs. I had this pet tarantula that got out once and then this loudest scream was heard through out the whole building! Apparently he found his way into Genesis's apartment." He laughed at the memory, because that had been both the most hilarious and terrifying moment he'd remembered of meeting Genesis.

The teen just prattled on about the different things with the 1sts like it was nothing, happy to really fill in a cadet before they thought the 1sts could fly or teleport themselves across the world or something crazy like that. As soon as the elevator doors came open he led the way to Genesis's apartment door, before he juggled the boxes he was holding to pull out a funny looking keycard.

Glancing at Cloud he winked. "If you ever meet a Turk named Reno, become his best friend. So worth it." He winked before the door opened and he waltzed in like he owned the place.

The laugh erupted from his throat before Cloud could stop it. He didn't expect the shampoo rumor to be true, but different scented conditioner on top of it? What surprised Cloud the most was how easy it was for him to let his guard down. Maybe fitting in with Shinra wouldn't be so bad after all.

Once in the elevator Cloud was surprised to know that someone as high-ranked as a First knew of such an old play. The blonde wasn't that well versed in the story and hadn't memorized it, but he had read it as a kid and remembered one part clear enough to quote it out loud.

"Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess
We seek it thus, and take to the sky
Ripples form on the water's surface
The wandering soul knows no rest."

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I read a lot as a kid and that one was one of the few good books in Nibelheim's puny library." And by library he meant the small book shelf in the town's hotel lobby.

He was relieved he hadn't known much about Angeal before. It was much better learning about someone from a person who was actually close to him and not rumors that may or may not be true. And he was sure Zack wouldn't let crazy rumors about his mentor fly. He was also glad about the idea of live plants. Ever since Cloud had arrived in Midgar the lack of any vegetation was obvious and it actually made Cloud miss his small mountain home. He laughed with Zack about the bug incident and had a story of his own to share.

"Reminds me of the time I had to save my mom from a spider. She was standing on her stool when I came down and she begged me to save her." He remembered how hilarious it was when he told her that spiders could climb and she jumped from the stool to the couch and then to the stairs. Though, he had to give her credit. The spider was big, but nothing a well-aimed boot couldn't handle. He threw a dictionary at it as well just for good measure to ease his mother's worries.

Cloud gladly listened to Zack talk about the Firsts and tried to soak in as much information about them as he could. Despite the face that they were in charge of SOLDIER more or less, they seemed like perfectly normal people who could let loose and be themselves and they weren't as terrifying as everyone else made them out to be. Hearing it from Zack they seemed like equals or even more, the way he talked about them made them almost seem like big brothers. Maybe that's how Zack saw them.

Turks? Cloud had heard talk of that elusive branch of Shinra once or twice, but didn't really know what they were about. Reno. Hmm. He'd have to remember that name.

As Zack made his way inside and Cloud started to follow he was surprised by the layout of the apartment. Everything was red! Or at least in different shades of it. The carpet was thick and patterned to look like flames and the walls complimented it and helped to bring out the flame's details. There was a wooden stand for what Cloud guessed was a sword and two book shelves set to the side. He realized Zack wasn't kidding when he said Genesis loved that play. It looked like the shelves were full of it!

"So, are these more copies of Loveless?" He asked Zack as he shifted the box to get a better hold on it.

The 2nd Class did a full body twitch when Cloud had quoted Loveless. Honestly, that was just cruel and unusual. But he'd get Genesis back today, even if for an hour. "So not cool. You gotta check out Shinra's library. Believe it or not Spiky, there are other books outside of Loveless." He grinned at the teen and reached over, ruffling his hair to make it even wilder than it already was.

Once inside the Commander's apartment -that was probably the most lively colored apartment in all of Shinra next only to the President's gaudy gold- Zack set his two boxes down and wrinkled his nose at the suggestion of giving Genesis even more copies of Loveless. "Are you kidding? Can't you see he has way too many as it is?" He grinned and his eyes seemed to flash with mischievousness at the blonde cadet. "No, my new favorite little chocobo, these are going to replace Genesis's books." He made quotation marks with his fingers when he said 'replace' before opening the first box that Cloud was holding.

Inside the three boxes were books on puppies and chocobos, enough to replace every last copy of Loveless on the bookshelves. "We're going to give Genesis a gentle reminder that there are more books than just Loveless. And the best way to do that, is to switch 'em all out."

Any rational person in Shinra would know better than to mess with Genesis's obsession with Loveless, but honestly, who ever accused Zack of being rational?

With that said, he started to take the puppy and chocobo books out of the box and replace them with the copies of Loveless, slowly filling up the box with Loveless and the shelves with the others. "This will also prove my theory that Genesis doesn't actually know how to read and he's just memorized one book his entire life." Zack looked so serious when he said that, but one of his biggest theories was that Genesis couldn't actually read.

He'd never actually seen the 1st do paperwork, he always managed to talk Angeal or Sephiroth one into doing his paperwork for him. It drove the teen mad not knowing and this was how he thought it best to prove it. "We're going to bust this theory wide open, Spiky!"

Cloud blew some of his spikes away from his face as he blinked at the sight of the books on the shelf. Zack hadn't been kidding. It was perfectly normal to have one, maybe two of the same book in case was one lost, damaged or a signed limited edition, but an entire shelf full was too much, let alone two of them.

Zack's plans for the Commander nearly caused Cloud to drop the box right on his feet. "Wait, we're what?! You're not really serious are you?"

The flame patterns were a harsh reminder of another rumor Cloud had heard about Genesis. He liked setting Cadets on fire if they didn't know to get out of his way. What would he do if he found one in his apartment? Or messing with his beloved collection? He fell back to his original thought. He was so dead.

"Uh, Zack? Do you really think this is a good idea? What if we get caught?" He glanced back towards the door that he forgot to close behind him. What if the Commander came in right then and there? Zack might survive, but Cloud would be as good as a chocobo cornered by a pack of vicious Nibel Wolves.

The raven haired teen hardly seemed concerned while he switched the books out as quickly as he could. "He's in a meeting with the Director and President, that's where Angeal and Sephiroth are at too. They'll make him sit through it until it's done so we have time, don't sweat it!" He flashed a bright smile before he turned his focus back on the task at hand.

"Come on, it'll go by faster if you help instead of just standing there like a statue!" Zack urged the teen to participate, it would be good for boosting his courage which the 2nd Class had a feeling he needed.

"Once we're done," He started, the first box filled with Loveless and taking it from Cloud to get into the next box. "We'll hide the boxes with the Loveless books in Reeve's office. Genesis never goes to the Urban Development Department and Reeve won't notice a couple more boxes stacked in his office, so it's the perfect place to hide them."

He'd had this whole thing planned for weeks and with the chocobo at his side they'd manage to pull it off! If Cloud actually participated and didn't question Zack's ethics, of course. But he figured the spiky haired blonde would eventually come around.

Cloud knew this would come back to haunt him, but Zack was his first friend and he didn't want to tarnish it. For once, their ranks were the last thing on his mind. Zack had every opportunity to be a heartless jerk just like the rest of the SOLDIERs he had encountered, but he wasn't. It almost felt like he was going the extra mile to help him out. Though, their current situation didn't feel like it had anything to do with him, other than spending time with him. Despite the obvious danger, Cloud almost wanted to smile.

Well, if Zack was trying to be a real friend than so would Cloud. No one would accuse him of letting down a friend and if they were gonna get caught then Cloud would back him up. He was timid, but he was no coward.

Walking over to the second book shelf he reached out and took one book at first. He mentally compared it to dipping in his toes before taking the plunge. He set that book in the box and replaced it with a book with a cute picture of a husky pup. Seriously, where did Zack find these books? Next he took a handful of seven copies of the play and replaced them with seven various books about chocobos. As he glanced at each title he almost wanted to read them himself. He was surprised there were so many topics about the birds. Breeding Tips, Racing, Best feed tips for each colored bird, Cloud really did need to check out Shinra's library.

Once he had replaced every book in the third box he looked over at Zack. "Reeve's office isn't far, is it? I'm sure a box full of Loveless is a lot heavier then books about dogs and birds."

Standing back to admire their hard work after all the copies of Loveless had been officially replaced by books on dogs and chocobos, the 2nd grinned and gave a thumbs up. "Reeve's office is down a couple floors, we'll take the elevators. Come on! We still have more to do before that meeting is up!"

Looking at his watch, they'd spent about 25 minutes switching out books. Genesis really did need to get a better variety and perhaps this would teach him there are other books in the world, if he could read anything else at all. Zack snickered at the thought while he picked a box and plopped it back into the blonde's arms.

Picking the other two boxes up, he whistled and walked out. "Don't fall behind, cadet! We're behind enemy lines!" He joked, laughing as he looked back at Cloud with a wink. It was a joke, though he could only imagine how angry Genesis was going to be once he notices the difference...

Which brought Zack's next question to mind as he locked the door behind them and headed for the elevators. "How long before you think he'll notice? Wanna make a bet out of it?" He nudged Cloud with his elbow and smiled mischievously toward the teen.

It wasn't unusual for him and Reno to make bets on stuff like this, though he would consider this particular one "high stakes" considering.

Cloud still couldn't shake the feeling that this was going to blow up in their faces, but he decided he had already committed to this. He may as well see it through to the end. What ever happened now was out of his hands.

He hurried to keep up with the Second as they made their way out of the Commander's apartment. Cloud had never been apart of any betting before. He had seen men playing poker and steal the chocobo's nest back home at the local tavern, but nothing life threatening like a covert mission to prank a First Class SOLDIER. "Probably thirty seconds if he's as into the book as you say he is."

"You're on! I say 45 seconds." Zack grinned. He knew the cadet didn't really have any Gil to be betting with, so he thought a moment on what they could use for betting while they waited on the elevators to take them to the Urban Development Department floor. "Alright, you win, I'll buy you one real meal every day for a week." He grinned, eyeing the cadet. "But if I win..."

This one he had to really think to make the deal worth it. He couldn't even decide on it until after the elevators arrived and he stepped onto one, eyes flashing with amusement when it finally hit him after he had pressed the button for the floor they were going to. "If I win, we gotta do this again next weekend."

That would be perfect, because either way Zack won. He'd get to spend time with the chocobo head and probably still be capable of talking him into staying over at his place the next weekend; so long as they weren't brutally murdered by Genesis.

Or Sephiroth, because after dropping these boxes off, the teen was taking Cloud up to the General's office for his next covert mission.

Cloud thought about Zack's offer for a moment. It was tempting, after all the food in the cadet mess hall barely had a right to call itself that, for the slop that was served with a stale biscuit and something that resembled milk or orange juice, but didn't quite taste farm fresh. A good meal, even one a week seemed fair.

The downside actually wasn't as bad as Cloud thought it'd be. He assumed he'd have to be on cleaning duty or some late night detail, but mentally laughed at himself. He was still thinking of Zack as his commanding officer. He should have learned by now that Zack was anything but your typical SOLDIER.

"Alright, you're on." The blonde really didn't see Zack's wager as a loss to him, this was the most exciting thing he had done in years and for once it was fun to be the sneaky one for a change. He never really got into trouble as a kid, despite how the rest of his town saw him. The only thing that would dampen their plans was if they were caught, but Zack's plan seemed to be solid.

He offered Zack his first real smile of the night. It was small, and one had to look close to really see it, but it was there.

The teen's whole face seemed to brighten as he beamed at the cadet. The smile he gave -as small as it was- was a huge win in Zack's mind. He'd almost forgotten to step off the elevators once they opened up to the Urban Development Department's floor. He caught the door with his foot though and stepped off, grinning widely. "Alright!"

The floor of the Urban Development Department wasn't exactly one would call busy, as most of the actual employees were in their offices reading over paperwork and signing it. He felt kind of bad for Reeve who wasn't a bad guy at all, in fact he was one of the few executives in Shinra he liked. "Everyone on this floor is on coffee break about now, so let's drop these off in Reeve's office and get started on our next plan of attack." He said, walking casually to the man's office.

The whole room might have been nice at one point in Reeve's career, but now it was cramped with stacks of papers, boxes of them stacked about the room and filing cabinets overflowing with even more. Zack settled the two boxes he'd been carrying in a corner just out of Reeve's line of sight from his desk with a couple other boxes before he took Cloud's box and sat it with them.

"Phase one, complete. Good work cadet! You'll make a fine SOLDIER yet!" He mussed Cloud's hair in a hand while walking out of the office, a bright smile on his face that seemed to light up the whole floor. "Let's begin phase two!"

Of course, Zack subtly forgot to mention what phase two entailed as he climbed back into the elevator and hit the button for the General's office floor.

TBC